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Monday, 23 May 2016

As the Syrian crisis drags on and hopes of a peaceful resolution or, at the very least, a return to relative normalcy in Libya seem very distant, Algeria should, by now, begin suspecting that it might soon find itself in the Anglo-American crosshairs. There is now rapidly growing evidence that Algeria is doing just that.

Having survived an attempted destabilization during the Western-inspired and Western-orchestrated “Arab Spring” color revolution, Algeria has been doing whatever it can to increase security in, on, and around its borders. For this reason, it has increased cooperation with its neighbor Tunisia, which has been the target of terrorists backed by the West and GCC nations.

Having acted quickly and with an iron fist, any attempt to disrupt the functioning of the Algerian government was quashed during the stream of U.S.-engineered color revolutions and destabilizations. Yet, even though the “Arab Spring” style protests were short-lived and ineffective, Algeria has not simply rested on its laurels in the aftermath. In fact, Algeria has moved to increase security, improve its military capabilities, and work with its neighbors to ensure that they do not fall prey to destabilizations or color revolutions in the future.

Algeria has also moved to deepen its ties with Russia and those countries that are part of an unofficial but growing and obvious anti-NATO bloc. In other words, Algeria is moving closer to joining the multi-polar collection of nations attempting to act as a counterforce to the NATO powers.

Two notable instances of increased cooperation between Algeria and the anti-NATO alliance are therecent provision of 40 attack helicopters by Russia to Algeria and the recent diplomatic visit to Syria by the Algerian government.

The helicopter, known as the “Night Hunter” in Russia, is reported to be one of the best in the world, and it is capable of carrying out its missions in both day and night as well as in adverse weather conditions. The helicopter comes with a MI-28NE modification capability that allows the ship to be flown from the pilot’s cockpit and the operator pilot’s cockpit.

The delivery of the Russian helicopters to Algeria is nothing new. In 2005-2006, Russia provided Algeria with 28 Su-30MKA, 16 Yak-130 jet trainers and 185 T-90S tanks. In 2015, a contract was signed for the delivery of 14 Su-30MKA fighters in 2016-2017. The transfer of the MI-28 helicopters is the result of a bilateral agreement between Russia and Algeria.

“The Algerian military is satisfied with the quality of Russian weapons, which has proven itself well in the specific conditions here, namely the desert with its extremely high temperatures and sandstorms. So there are good prospects for continuing close cooperation in the military-technical area on a wide nomenclature of supplies,” Alexander Zolotov, Russian Ambassador to Algeria, told RIA Novosti in an interview.

Algeria, of course, is becoming concerned with increasing amounts of ISIS activity in the region, notably in Libya and Tunisia and is focusing on policing its borders with the two embattled countries as well as with Niger and Mali for that reason. The Algerian government, which has reacted quickly to terrorist threats in the past, is perhaps worried that ISIS attacks may eventually begin to take place inside its borders, particularly as a result of Western targeting of the governmental structure in the future.

In February, Algeria and Russia embarked upon a plan to deepen bilateral military and economic cooperation.

In regards to Syria, Monday April 25, 2016 marked the first official visit to Syria since 2011 by any Algerian official, signaling a growing tendency to increase ties and cooperation with the embattled nation despite the crying and screaming of the United States, EU, and NATO. Earlier, in March, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mu’allem paid a visit to the Algerian capital where the stated goal of the visit was to deepen and strengthen economic ties between the two countries.

Syria is not only no longer safe for IS, it has become a grave in which IS is being buried alive. This is thanks not to a successful anti-terror campaign waged by Washington and its allies, but by swift and successful operations carried out by Moscow, Tehran, and their allies in Damascus. Indeed, with IS supply lines being cut from their source in Turkey and their forces being pushed back across Syrian territory, liquidation of their assets in Syria is well underway. Likewise in Iraq, feigned US operations to stop IS have given way to an increase in cooperation between Baghdad, Tehran, and Damascus.

What started out as an attempt to divide and destroy Iran’s arc of influence across the region has galvanized it instead.

Moving the mercenary forces of IS out of the region is instrumental in ensuring they “live to fight another day.” By placing them in Libya, Washington and its allies hope they will be far out of reach of the growing coalition truly fighting them across the Levant. Further more, placing them in Libya allows other leftover “projects” from the “Arab Spring” to be revisited, such as the destabilization and destruction of Algeria, Tunisia and perhaps even another attempt to destabilize and destroy Egypt.

IS’ presence in Libya could also be used as a pretext for open-ended and much broader military intervention throughout all of Africa by US forces and their European and Persian Gulf allies. As the US has done in Syria, where it has conducted operations for now over a year and a half to absolutely no avail, but has managed to prop up proxy forces and continue undermining and threatening targeted nations, it will likewise do so regarding IS in Libya and its inevitable and predictable spread beyond.

Indeed, Gunnar summarizes much of what Algeria knows and fears in relation to IS and the NATO/Anglo-American scheme for world hegemony. For this reason, Algeria is preparing for the potential shift in the Western focus in terms of specific battlefields, moving from Syria to Libya and Westward from there.

While not earth-shattering news, Algeria’s growing fondness for the Russian bloc of nations is yet another sign of Washington’s loss of influence across the world and the increasingly bankrupt position held by the U.S. and NATO.